Skip to main content
The Managed Service Accounts (MSA) was introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 to automatically manage (change) passwords of service accounts. Using MSA, you can considerably reduce the risk of system accounts running system services being compromised. MSA has one major problem which is the usage of such service account only on one computer. It means that MSA Service Accounts cannot work with cluster or NLB services, which operate simultaneously on multiple servers and use the same account and password. To fix this, Microsoft added the feature of Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA) to Windows Server 2012.
To create a gMSA, we should follow the steps given below −
Step 1 − Create the KDS Root Key. This is used by the KDS service on DC to generate passwords.
KDS Service
To use the key immediately in the test environment, you can run the PowerShell command −
Add-KdsRootKey –EffectiveTime ((get-date).addhours(-10)) 
To check whether it creates successfully or not, we run the PowerShell command −
Get-KdsRootKey 
Step 2 − To create and configure gMSA → Open the Powershell terminal and type −
New – ADServiceAccount – name gmsa1 – DNSHostNamedc1.example.com – PrincipalsAllowedToRetrieveManagedPassword "gmsa1Group"
In which,
  • gmsa1 is the name of the gMSA account to be created.
  • dc1.example.com is the DNS server Name.
  • gmsa1Group is the active directory group which includes all systems that have to be used. This group should be created before in the Groups.
To check it, Go to → Server Manager → Tools → Active Directory Users and Computers → Managed Service Accounts.
Managed Service Accounts
Step 3 − To install gMAs on a server → open PowerShell terminal and type in the following commands −
  • Install − ADServiceAccount – Identity gmsa1
  • Test − ADServiceAccount gmsa1
The result should come “True” after running the second command, as shown in the screenshot given below.
True
Step 4 − Go to service properties, specify that the service will be run with a gMSA account. In the This account box in the Log on tab type the name of the service account. At the end of the name use symbol $, the password need not to be specified. After the changes are saved, the service has to be restarted.
Log On
The account will get the “Log On as a Service” and the password will be retrieved automatically.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

In this chapter, we will see how to enable remote desktop application. It is important because this enables us to work remotely on the server. To do this, we have the following two options. For the first option, we have to follow the steps given below. Step 1  − Go to Start → right click “This PC” → Properties. Step 2  − On Left side click “Remote Setting”. Step 3  − Check radio button “Allow Remote connection to this computer” and Check box “Allow connection only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (recommended)” → click “Select Users”. Step 4  − Click Add. Step 5  − Type user that you want to allow access. In my case, it is administrator → click OK. For the  second option , we need to follow the steps given below. Step 1  − Click on “Server Manage” → Local Server → click on “Enable” or Disable, if it is Disabled.
The table creation command requires: Name of the table Names of fields Definitions for each field Syntax: Here is generic SQL syntax to create a MySQL table: CREATE TABLE table_name ( column_name column_type ); Now, we will create following table in  TUTORIALS  database. tutorials_tbl ( tutorial_id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT , tutorial_title VARCHAR ( 100 ) NOT NULL , tutorial_author VARCHAR ( 40 ) NOT NULL , submission_date DATE , PRIMARY KEY ( tutorial_id ) ); Here few items need explanation: Field Attribute  NOT NULL  is being used because we do not want this field to be NULL. So if user will try to create a record with NULL value, then MySQL will raise an error. Field Attribute  AUTO_INCREMENT  tells MySQL to go ahead and add the next available number to the id field. Keyword  PRIMARY KEY  is used to define a column as primary key. You can use multiple columns separated by comma to define...
In this chapter, we will see how to configure WSUS and tune it. The following steps should be followed for configuring it. Step 1  − When you open it for the first time, you should do it by going to “Server Manager” → Tools → Windows Server Update Services, then a Configuration wizard will be opened and then click → Next. Step 2  − Click “Start Connecting” → Wait until the green bar is full and then → Next. Step 3  − Check the box for which the updates want to be taken, I did for English and then → Next. Step 4  − Check the box for all the products which you want to update. It is just for Microsoft products and it is recommended to include all the products related to Microsoft and then → Next. Step 5  − Choose the classification updated to be downloaded, if you have a very good internet speed, then check all the boxes, otherwise just check “Critical Updates”. Step 6  − Now we should schedule the updates which I will recommend to do it a...